11. Episode 11: A Night on the Town

“Dang, girl! This is where you’ve been hanging out this whole time?!” Anne exclaimed as she gazed upon the interior of the castle.

After the little incident in the city, the Plantars and Anne headed to the king’s castle, with Marcy leading the way. Along with way they couldn’t help but be in awe once again. The city was grand in and of itself, but the castle was something else. The long hallway that stretched before them was lined with stained-glass windows, the chandeliers overhead were made of various colored crystals, and along the walls were tapestries that were adorned with the symbol of Amphibia.

“I wouldn’t say I ‘hang out’ here…but YES! Living in the castle has been awesome!” Marcy replied.

“Wow, I can’t believe we’re here,” Sprig marveled.

“And that we’re about to meet the king of Amphibia,” Polly added.

Hop Pop nervously looked around and said, “Wow, look at this place…Am I dressed okay? Should I have worn my silk ascot? I-I’ll go back and get it!” The old frog quickly did an about face and was about to take off for the door.

Thankfully, Marcy was able to stop Hop Pop before he could get too far. “Hey, hey, don’t stress guys. This is no big deal.”

No sooner had she said that did the huge double doors open at the other end of the hall, and from them walked out Lady Olivia, with a serious look on her face. “Okay, frog family, you’re about to meet King Andrias. This is a big deal.”

That alone was enough to make the four of them gulp hard. With that lovely greeting given, Olivia led them the rest of the way. While they walked, Anne couldn’t help but have her own worries about meeting the king. They mostly pertained to her being a Kamen Rider. The king seemed to be alright enough with Marcy being one, she was the hero of the city, not to mention its biggest architectural innovator. And then there was Anne. Yes, they did work out their little dual sided inferiority complex towards each other, and it didn’t bother Anne, at least as much as it used to. But compared to Marcy, it wasn’t like Anne had done much in the way of heroic deeds. The few times she had transformed it was to protect herself and the Plantars, and even those times were involuntary.

Anne just had to keep reminding herself that things would be okay, she was with Marcy, and if she wasn’t worried then there wasn’t any need to be worried about the king, right?

The group continued their walk, now in the presence of the Newtopian Knight Guard, standing sentry next to each column that they passed by while brandishing halberds and shields. Lady Olivia slowed down and spoke with reverence, “May I present to you, Andrias Leviathan, Lord of all Amphibia, Peacekeeper of a Thousand Years, and the First of his Name.

Sprig and Polly gasped.

Anne’s eyes widened as she commented, “Now that’s king sized…”

Before them stood the giant, King Andrias. He was at least twenty feet tall; his body was bulky and covered in armor that had seen its fair share of battles. The newt king was pale blue in color, adorned with a beige colored coral crown, and a thick white beard under his chin. The imposing visage of the king sat upon a throne made of coral and crystals, with a stained-glass window behind him that poured sunlight through it, casting a shadow over his body that gave the old ruler an ominous aura about him.

“HELLO, PLANTAR FAMILY!” Andrias bellowed joyfully, killing the ominous mood. “HA-HA! Bring it in you guys! Bring it in!”

Hop Pop quickly took Polly off his head and said to his grandchildren, “Quick, kids, bow!”

The giant king scooped up all three frogs into his enormous arms and brought them in a big, big bear hug, pressing them against his bushy beard in the process. “It’s so good to finally meet you!” After a few seconds of that, the king deposited them back to the floor. Hop Pop and Sprig had bewildered looks on their faces, completely taken by surprise at the king’s behavior.

“I LOVE THIS GUY!” Polly exclaimed.

Andrias laughed jovially but was cut off by Olivia. “Dear, King Andrias, just once, it would be nice if you followed proper castle etiquette.”

The giant newt king blew a raspberry in response and replied, “Oh etiquette, shemtiquette.” Andrias now turned his attention to the newest human in his throne room. “Oh, and what do we have here?”

Anne nervously waved at him, sweating bullets.

“You must be Anne. S’up? Am I saying that right? S’up?” Andrias asked as he looked to Marcy.

Marcy gave Andrias a thumbs up and said, “You got it!”

“Oh-ho-ho-ho! The thumb of approval! And there’s a thumb for you, Anne,” said Andrias as he brought his giant left hand before Anne.

“Oh, uh…right back at ya!” Anne then proceeded to fist bump the great king.

King Andrias had not been introduced to the fist bump, so upon receiving one he became overly jovial as he laughed loudly before bouncing up on his tail exclaiming, “Delightful!” before coming down onto his feet and shaking the room, which also caused Anne to lose her balance and fall to the floor.

Thankfully, Marcy was there to help her back up. “She’s also a Kamen Rider like me, King Andrias. She’s Kamen Rider Amp.”

“A Kamen Rider as well, that is strange. Marcy, I remember you telling me about these ‘Kamen Riders’, but you said they were fictional, are you sure about that?” King Andrias asked.

“I was until coming here. Although Anne received her Rider powers only a few weeks ago,” said Marcy.

“Hmm, interesting.” King Andrias crouched down to one knee and looked at Anne. “Tell me, Anne, how was it that you came about these powers? There may be some commonality between you and Marcy that could help us discern the origin.”

Anne rubbed the back of her head and said, “There’s not really much to tell. We were at the Ruins of Disaster, I fell through some old shaft and saw this…I don’t know what to call it, a spirit? Anyway, after the Plantars got me out of there, I started getting this really bad pain around here.” Anne pointed to around her midsection. “I started releasing bursts of electricity, ‘cause it felt like something was trying to come out of me, and me holding it back resulted in the bursts. That lasted a couple of days and then we were attacked by the Fallen, and that’s when I let it happen and I transformed. Although, I wasn’t in control of myself until about a few days ago when I learned how to.”

Marcy grimaced upon hearing these details, they hadn’t had time to go over everything yet, Anne mostly recounted her adventures in Wartwood the other day, it had gotten late, and Marcy wanted to ask more about her Rider powers today, but now she was a little worried about her friend.

“Hmm, I’m sorry you had to go through all that, Anne, truly,” said Andrias.

“Marcy said the Fallen have been attacking the city, they attacked us on the road. I was wondering, have you ever seen things like this before?” Anne asked.

Andrias stroked his beard for a moment and said, “Unfortunately, these creatures are new to me. Marcy and I have scoured the Newtopian Archives backwards and forwards, but we still haven’t found anything in history texts that even come close to describing these creatures. But enough about those unpleasant things. Let’s get down to business, shall we? Getting you girls home, safe and sound. But alas, I’m afraid without the music box, there’s nothing I can do. Marcy doesn’t have it, and I assume you don’t have it either,” said Andrias as he sat on the steps of his throne.

“Oh, actually, I do have the box!” Anne replied.

“WHAT?!” Marcy gasped. “Are you serious?!”

“Why this is marvelous news! Come, come, let’s see it!”

“Well, I don’t ‘have it’ have it. Hop Pop left it with some contacts back in Wartwood,” Anne corrected. “But I do have a photo of it!”

Anne reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out her cellphone, after scrolling through a few pictures she found the one that had the music box and showed it to the king.

“Oh, yes, yes, a ‘photo’, let’s see here.” Andrias reached to his throne and took out a pair of reading glasses. He then examined the photo and found something odd about the box. “Hmm, how peculiar. Marcy, didn’t you say the gems were colored? Look here, they’re gray.”

Anne turned her phone around and looked carefully at the picture, her eyes widening with embarrassing realization. “Wow, you’re right! I actually never noticed that before…” 

Andrias nodded his head resolutely and said, “This will require further study in the deepest of our archives. Give me a few days to work with this information, after which we shall reconvene and set a glorious plan in motion!”

“Great! Mar-Mar, anything I can do to help?!” Anne asked excitedly.

“Can you translate ancient Amphibian runes?” Marcy asked.

“I suuuuuure can’t!”

Marcy giggled. Typical Anne. “No worries, dude, I got this.”

“Nice, just like our group projects back home.”

Andrias stood up and spoke to Anne and the Plantars, “Until then my dear Plantars, go forth and enjoy the sights of Newtopia! We’ve booked you all a suite at the Hemisphere Hotel, my treat! And here!” Andrias reached behind his back for a moment and then thrust both of them out with fists closed tight. “Pick a hand!”

Anne walked up to his two large fists and pondered her decision. She looked up at the king who nodded eagerly to his right fist. “This hand?”

“SIIIIKE!” the old king laughed. “But wait, what’s this?” With a slight of hand trick, Andrias produced, what appeared to be, a gold-colored credit card. “The Royal Credit Card, this will grant you access to do anything in Newtopia! Be safe with this now, wars have been waged for less.”

Hop Pop held out his hands as Andrias placed the RCC in his hands.

Sprig flipped for joy, literally, when he saw this. “Whoa-ho-ho! We get to explore Newtopia with unlimited money?! This is a dream come true! Onward family! Time to see Newtopia!”

“Sprig calm down a minute and let’s at least check into the hotel first,” said Hop Pop.

Sprig deflated a little, but it wasn’t by much as he was jittery with excitement about seeing the city and being rich enough to do almost anything they wanted. As the Plantars started to walk away, Anne stayed behind for a moment.

“So, you gonna explore the city?” Marcy asked.

“Honestly, after today, I’m just going to go to the hotel, and relax. Maybe take a four nap while I’m at it. But, if you’re free later, maybe could hang out a little?” Anne asked.

Marcy’s heart screamed “YES!”, but now that she was armed with the knowledge of the grayed-out gemstones, she needed to help the king research this information. “I’d love to, but I should really help King Andrias look into this gray gemstones situation.”

“No problem, I know you’re busy. But don’t be a stranger, Mar-Mar,” said Anne as she ran to catch up with the Plantars.

Marcy sighed, she really wanted to. Now that they were here, on another world, away from the societal stigma that came with the feelings that she harbored, in a beautiful city, it was just the perfect place to finally tell Anne how she felt about her. But, at the very least, she needed to get this done first.

Marcy and Andrias were hard at work in the Newtopian Archives, the two geniuses poured over many books and scrolls in the last few hours, but so far, they hadn’t come up with anything. But that was fine, Marcy wasn’t expecting to find the answer in the first book she cracked open, that would’ve been too easy.

Andrias glanced over to his young ward and asked, “Marcy, forgive me if I’m being too formal, but Anne is the human girl you told me you have feelings for, is she not?”

Marcy dropped the book she was looking at and rubbed her right arm, a tinge of red tinted her face. “Um…y-yeah, she is…”

Andrias nodded in understanding. “I overheard her saying she’d liked to ‘hang out’ with you. Why not go and do so?”

“I-I can’t! It wouldn’t be right leaving you here with all this work! A-And we need to figure out why the gems turned gray and–!”

“Marcy.” Andrias’ tone was gentle yet firm as he cut her off. “We have many scrolls and books to comb through. And there’s not a hard-set date for you to return. I know your families are worried about you, but you’re safe here in Newtopia, even more so with your powers. Take it from someone who’s lived a few lifetimes, it’s the missed opportunities you regret the most later in life.”

Marcy wanted to argue in opposition to Andrias, but as one who has lived a thousand years, Marcy had no doubts that the old king must’ve been speaking from experience. Which only added more credence to his words given a human’s lifespan was about eighty or more years depending on that person’s health. Perhaps he did have a point?

“I-I guess a break couldn’t hurt, right?” Marcy asked.

Andrias smiled at the human and said, “Sure, what’s an hour break, or two, or three.”

Marcy got up from her chair and ran to the door but stopped in the doorway to turn and say to the king, “Thank you.”

After that was said, Marcy hurried her way to the Hemisphere Hotel. Once Marcy got outside of the castle, she looked both ways and called out, “Come to me! Machine Zefyr!” as she snapped her fingers.

About a moment after saying that, the sounds of a motorcycle echoed in the air. Marcy looked to her left and watched as her Rider bike finally arrived. The bike was gray and had glowing green lines on its chassis, the overall shape of the bike resembled something close to a speed bike of Japanese design, but where it differed was the wheels. Both wheels were made of dense emerald wind which allowed Machine Zefyr to not only drive on the ground, but if she wanted, Marcy could drive it in the air.

Marcy mounted her bike, the console coming alive the moment she made contact. She gave the throttle a few good twists, revving the engine as she prepared to take off. With one more twist, Marcy took off. She angled Machine Zefyr upwards, the front air tire looked as if it had just hit an invisible paved road as the tire gripped this road and hoisted both the bike and Marcy into the air. Machine Zefyr rode the air currents like a highway, and with its command of the wind, was able to reduce the air friction around itself, essentially allowing Marcy to go even faster than a normal motorcycle could ever hope to go.

As Marcy soared above the city, she marveled at the sitting sun over the vast ocean, how the waters reflected the various warm hues of the sunset, reminding Marcy of just how beautiful this world was. Did she regret what she did? A little. But when compared to this sight, sights that no one other than the three them would be able to see, Marcy believed it was worth it in the end.

Her pace slowed down while she drove, easing on the throttle as the thought grew in her head. It was she who brought them here to Amphibia, that book spoke of the “Calamity Box”, but it was just a book. Marcy, in her desperation wanted all three of them to stay together. It was only out of desperation that she even mentioned the box to Sasha, she didn’t know that Sasha would make Anne steal it. Well, maybe on some subconscious level she knew Sasha would, but she certainly didn’t think it would work. At the very least she was probably going to have Anne use it as a memento of her. But low and behold, here they were, in another world, another universe.

What will Sasha think of me…hell…what will Anne think of me? I want to be closer to her, I want to be more than friends, but what is she going to think when she finds out the reason all three of us were ripped away from our homes and families was because I knew the box would do it? I mean, it’s not like I expected it to work! It was pure coincidence that it did!

Marcy shook her head and sped up.

It’ll be fine! I’ll…I tell Anne how I feel about her! Hopefully…Maybe…she feels the same way. And if I explain what happened she’ll forgive me, because that’s how Anne is! She’s the heart of our group.

The Hemisphere Hotel finally came into view. Marcy decelerated and angled Machine Zefyr downwards towards the street. The pedestrians walking by stopped in awe as they watched Marcy drive all the way down and parked her bike on the sidewalk.

“It’s Marcy Wu! Ranger!” a newt woman exclaimed.

“Hey, citizens, don’t mind me. I’m just here to see a friend,” said Marcy as she made her way through the crowd of onlookers.

Once inside, Marcy headed to the front desk and rang the bell. The manager of the hotel approached the desk and humbly asked, “Welcome to the Hemisphere Hotel, Master Marcy Wu! To what do we owe this honor?”

“Oh, I’m just here to visit my friends. The Plantars and Anne Boonchuy, they should be in a suite here in the hotel,” said Marcy.

“Ah, yes, the Plantars! They’re up on the eighteenth floor. Bella!” the manager called out.

At that moment a young newt woman appeared, she was wearing a bellhop uniform, her skin was a pale coral color, and she had brown hair. “Yes sir? Whoa! M-Marcy Wu! K-Kamen Rider R-Ranger!”

“Yep, that’s me.”

“Master Marcy wishes to see her friends on the eighteenth floor, the Plantars. I’d like you to escort her there, please,” he asked.

“Can do, sir! It would be my honor!”

Marcy always got a little embarrassed when this happened. Even after a few months of being a Kamen Rider, the young Chinese girl hadn’t gotten used to the praise and adulation of the people. Being treated as a hero was something new to her and being praised by an entire city for her smarts was something that she’d never think would happen. But here we are.

Bella graciously led Marcy to the elevator which took them to the eighteenth floor. As they walked, Bella would glance over her shoulder a few times, Marcy could tell what she was probably thinking, so she spared the young newt woman by doodling on her way up.

Once they reached the door Bella said, “This is it, do you need anything else, Master Marcy?”

“No, that’ll do my kind bellhop. And this is for your trouble,” said Marcy as she handed Bella a piece of paper from her notebook.

Bella kindly accepted the paper and gasped when she saw a picture of Ranger with Marcy’s autograph at the bottom of the page. “T-Thank you!”

“No problem, Bella, enjoy the rest of your shift,” said Marcy.

“I-I will, and thanks again!”

Marcy waited until Bella was gone before she knocked on the door. After a couple of knocks Marcy heard movement on the other side. A moment later the door opened, and Marcy blushed a little when she saw Anne answer the door, in a bathrobe.

“Marcy, what’s up?” Anne asked.

“Oh…well, y-you, um, asked me if we could hang out later,” said Marcy. “It’s been a few hours, so I just wanted to see if the offer was still standing? Of course, I understand if you wanted to spend time with your adopted family!”

“Oh, no, no, that’s great! I didn’t think you’d be able to since you’d be busy and all with research,” said Anne.

Marcy smiled and said, “Yeah, well, King Andrias said it was okay to play hooky.”

“Heh, I like that guy. But let me run it by the Plantars right quick.”

“No need to worry about us, we’ll be fine.” Hop Pop appeared next to Anne, with Polly perched on his head and dragging Sprig by his left arm across the floor. “You two should spend some time together, now let’s go check out that Ferris Wheel!”

“Noooo…let me rest…” Sprig begged.

“You want the Royal Credit Card? I call dibs, too late!” Polly exclaimed.

“Polly, be nice,” said Hop Pop.

Marcy raised her hand and said, “No problem, Mr. Plantar, I’ve got more than enough money on hand to do some things around town. Plus, being a local hero tends to get you a discount on some services and items.”

“In that case, we’ll take a look around the hotel! Come along, Sprig,” said Hop Pop as he dragged Sprig behind him.

“Noooo…let me sleeeeeep…I beg yoooouuu…” Sprig whined as he feebly tried to escape Hop Pop’s grip, to no avail.

“Honestly, Sprig, Ah don’t know why yer so got dang tired when we all had ourselves a nice nap.”

With that said, Hop Pop, Polly, and Sprig turned the corner and headed for the elevator. Now they were alone, Anne shrugged her shoulders and said, “Alright, c’mon in, I just need to throw my clothes on and then we can head out.”

Marcy blushed a little. “Uh, nah, that’s okay. I’ll just head down to the lobby and wait for you there”

“It’s only going to take a sec, plus, I don’t want to make you have to go all the way down there,” said Anne.

Marcy knew this was probably a bad idea, given the hidden purpose of why she wanted to hang out with her friend. But the other part of her was urging her to go on ahead, as it might seem a little strange if she made a big deal about it.

“If you’re okay with it, then sure,” Marcy replied.

Anne stood aside and let Marcy in, as she walked in, Marcy took note of the hotel’s suite and was thankful that it looked as nice as she heard it was. While she knew the Hemisphere Hotel wasn’t a cheap hotel, and although she knew King Andrias wouldn’t stick them in some crummy place, it was still a relief to see that their accommodations were great.

Marcy took a seat on the edge of the bed and tapped her knees as she said, “So, you just heading into the bathroom or – OH MY GOSH!” Marcy immediately turned to face the sliding glass doors.

“What’s wrong, Mar-Mar?”

“Y-You’re changing right now?!” Marcy asked.

“Yeah…Why are you turning around like that?” Anne asked.

WHY?! “You’re changing, of course!”

Anne was confused. “You know we’ve seen each other in our underwear before, heck, we’ve seen each other with nothing on in the showers and locker rooms back home.”

“T-That was a different circumstance! I-I’m just trying to respect your privacy,” said Marcy.

Anne chuckled and said, “Okay, okay, thanks, Mar-Mar.”

Marcy breathed a sigh of relief, grateful that Anne was going to drop it. When she raised her head to look out the sliding glass door, she paused. There, in the reflection, was the very faint silhouette of Anne changing. The fading light of the sun’s rays was making the image difficult to make out in full detail, but that didn’t stop Marcy’s imagination from filling in the blanks. She had seen Anne in various stages of undress before, in the lockers and showers at school, when they hung out at the mall and tried on clothes, or when they had sleepovers and put on little mock fashion shows. But those times were different, and back then she could suppress the part of her that found Anne physically attractive to her by the circumstance on which she saw. But here, in a hotel room, alone, with the daylight fading and turning to night.

This is like the scene out of some ecchi anime or manga! I shouldn’t look, I don’t need to look! Just close your eyes and don’t think about–! Marcy heard the flop of cloth hit the floor, and that’s when she saw Anne’s silhouette remove something from her body. She just took off her robe!

Marcy’s throat felt dry, and her heart raced, all she needed to do was turn around and just look. She could play it off, right? Anne didn’t make a big deal about it, and it didn’t seem like Anne really cared if she did see her. Just one little peek wouldn’t hurt, she hadn’t’ seen Anne in months since arriving to Amphibia, she was allowed a little peek. Marcy’s head slowly began to turn, until her right hand rose and slapped her across the face.

NO! Bad Marcy! Bad! Don’t perv on your best friend! Especially the one you have a crush on!

“Okay, I’m good,” said Anne.

Marcy turned around and saw that Anne was back in her regular attire. She was half relieved and half disappointed, but her feelings leaned more towards the former. “Great, so, what do you wanna do?”

Anne shrugged. “I don’t know, whatever you want. I don’t know the city as well as you do, so I’ll just leave it up to you.”

“Cool! Say, Anne, how are you with heights?”

“THIS IS TOTALLY AWESOME!” Anne exclaimed.

Marcy had opted to take Anne on a little flight around the city. She led her friend to Machine Zefyr and had Anne sit behind her. The feeling of Anne’s arms wrapping around her waist made her heart flutter. After that, Marcy hit the throttle, and both became airborne. The bike turned on its lights the moment the sun had finally dipped below the horizon, with the crescent moon shining brightly over the city, added to by the twinkling lights of the city below and reflection of the ocean, it just made the whole thing, dare she say, romantic.

“Glad you’re enjoying the ride!” Marcy replied.

“You can actually call for your bike when you’re not transformed?! I didn’t know you could do that,” said Anne.

“Yep, came in real handy that one time I had to fight a cult and get this newt that they were going to sacrifice out of there.”

Anne shook her head in shock. “Wait, what?! You had to fight a cult?!”

“Oh yeah, and I’m still trying to root them out. But more on that later,” said Marcy.

Marcy continued their flying session on Machine Zefyr, enjoying how nice this was. The young genius couldn’t remember the last time she and Anne spent any alone time together. But now, they have a whole other world, free from the distractions of their normal lives and able to focus on themselves a bit more. Marcy could already tell that Anne was different, she seemed stronger, and while, yes, she had grown stronger in a physical sense, she also seemed to have grown in a mental sense. Honestly, Marcy liked this, she always knew Anne could be as strong as Sasha if she put her mind and effort into it.

There’s no telling how much we’ll grow here. We’re only thirteen and we can be anything we want here! I will find a way for us to get back home, Anne, but…what’s the harm in spending a little more time in this wonderful place?

Marcy flew closer to the ground; she was feeling a bit hungry and figured Anne might’ve been as well. So, she parked Machine Zefyr in front of a nice little Newtopian restaurant, it wasn’t anything fancy, just an everyday restaurant where the less rich citizens like to eat.

When they entered, the hostess said, “Welcome to the March Field, how may I – Oh my frog, Marcy Wu!”

“Hey there, citizen,” said Marcy.

“O-Oh my, to what do we owe the pleasure?” she asked.

“My friend and I wanted to get some dinner, so we decided to drop by and grab a bite.”

“Of course, of course! Silly me, we are a restaurant. Would you like a table or a booth?”

A minute later found both Marcy and Anne sitting in a booth against the wall. The window seat allowed them to watch the traffic and people walk by as they perused the menu.

“Are you ready to order Ms. Wu?” the waitress asked.

“I think I’ll have a beetle steak, mashed potatoes, and a salad to start,” said Marcy. “Oh, and a side of Sal’s Famous Sauce.”

“I think I’m going to have the crispy cricket strips with a side order of chili cheese flies,” Anne asked.

The waitress took their order and quickly went back to the kitchen to have them prepare it.

“Dang, Marcy, they really like you around here,” said Anne.

Marcy chuckled. “Heh, heh, yeah. But I try not to let it go to my head. Being famous can be a bit of a burden sometimes. I mean, I’m not doing this because I want to be, as a Kamen Rider, I have a duty to protect people from monsters and bad guys in general. Plus, being a part of the Newtopian Knight Guard kind entails doing things like that.”

Anne looked out the window and said, “I still can’t believe how much we’ve changed since we’ve gotten here. When I appeared in Frog Valley, in the middle of the woods, I thought for sure that we’d been transported to some savage world or something. And…”

A sad expression befell Anne’s features.

“Anne, what’s wrong?” Marcy asked.

“It’s nothing…”

“Well, it doesn’t look like nothing. Talk to me.” Marcy insisted as she reached out and took Anne’s left hand with her right.

Anne looked at their hands and then back up at Marcy who waited for her friend to tell her what was troubling her mind. After a moment of thought, Anne decided to tell Marcy. “I just…I was afraid. Not so much for myself, I mean, I was, but the whole time I was more worried about you.”

“You were?”

“Yes, it was hard not showing it in front of Hop Pop, Sprig, and Polly, but there were nights when I woke up in a cold sweat because of a nightmare that I had about finding you dead somewhere out there! I thought something bad might’ve happened to you when we were brought here, that you were hurt or worse…” Anne started to shake. “And what’s worse, just this morning, I had a nightmare about finding you dead in the woods. You got bit by a snake and died slowly asking – begging for me to come and help you. But I got there too late and…and you came back to life like some kind of zombie and blamed me for you dying.”

Marcy didn’t realize that Anne was that worried about her, not to the point of making her have nightmares. “I’m sorry you had to go through that, and it’s partially my fault.”

“What do you mean?” Anne asked.

“I…” Was now the time to tell her? She hadn’t confessed her feelings to Anne yet, but after hearing that she made her friend and crush worry to the point of inducing stress related nightmares, it made her feel guilty. “What I mean is…”

Suddenly, both Anne’s and Marcy’s eyes started to glow, sensing the presence of an enemy.

“AAAAAHH!” the waitress screamed.

“MARCY!” Anne shouted.

Marcy watched as Anne bolted out of the booth and stood away from her. The young genius finally turned to look at what Anne and the other patrons were looking at. It was a Fallen, Marcy bolted out her seat as well and stood side by side with Anne as they gazed upon their newest enemy. It looked a little more humanoid than the last few Fallen, it was bulky, most of its muscle being concealed by its fur. The colors of which were similar to a skunk’s colors. The monster had a silver chest plate, with the thirteen eyes symbol molded onto it, but in addition to that, there were also claw marks that formed an “X” pattern.

The Fallen had long claw-like nails at the end of each finger, white in color, making them stand out from the rest of its body. The creature had armor around its forearms, shins, and shoulders, all silver in color, possessed a short muzzle, and gleaming yellow eyes.

“Marcy…if that thing attacks in here…”

“There’ll be a lot of damage and people hurt, I know. We have to take this outside,” said Marcy.

“Yeah, but how?” Anne asked.

The Fallen readied itself to launch at them through the window, but right before that happened, Machine Zefyr whirred to life and slammed itself into the Fallen, tossing the monster a good few feet away from the window.

“Waitress, we’re going to need that order to go!” Anne exclaimed as she made her transformation motions.

“Send the bill for the food to the castle and I’ll take care of it,” Marcy added as she too made her transformation motions.

Lightning and wind encircled their waists respectively, forming their MetamorphRing Drivers. Anne and Marcy made their motions once again before exclaiming in unison, “Henshin!”

Lightning and wind wrapped around both girls and transformed them into Kamen Riders Amp and Ranger. The two heroes dashed out of the restaurant, the vehicles in the streets were already abandoned and the rest of the citizens seemed to have cleared out of the area. The ones in the businesses seemed to be directing their patrons to leave via a back exit.

“Ugh, twice in one day? Can you guys just give us a break?!” Amp complained.

“Calamity of Heart and Mind…you must fall, to end the Prophecy.”

Amp and Ranger were stunned, the Fallen just spoke, but in a sentence. They were used to the first part, maybe another word at the end, but beyond that they never said anything else.

“It…It talked back?”

“Perhaps this one is different from the other Fallen? Maybe it’s a more evolved version of the Fallen?” Ranger speculated.

Amp watched as Ranger lowered her weapon and asked, “What are you doing?!”

“This might be our only chance to get some answers as to why they’re after us. Tell us, why are attacking us? We don’t mean anyone any harm.”

The Fallen looked directly at Marcy and said, “You…must be…destroyed. The Prophecy…must not…come true.”

“Prophecy”? Amp and Ranger thought together.

“What ‘prophecy’ are you talking about?! And what does it have to do with us?!” Amp demanded.

The Fallen made a gesture with its right hand, using both its index and middle finger to draw a triangle in the air, with its left hand it drew a circle around the drawn triangle and finally brought its hands into a prayer position. The dark halo of the Fallen appeared over its head and glowed menacingly, after this was done, the monster got into a crouched position and lunged straight for Ranger. Amp used her incredible speed to intercept the monster and punched it across the face, stopping it in its tracks. However, the monster didn’t seem too fazed by it as it came up with a rising swipe of its claws and struck Amp across her chest, sending sparks flying.

Amp backed away after receiving the blow, allowing Ranger to fire explosive round air bolts at the monster. Each attack struck against the monster’s body with great force, making sparks fly from its body with each successful hit. While the monster did flinch and get pushed back by the blasts, it hardly seemed to care. The monster jumped straight up into the air, performed a somersault and slashed the air with both of its claws. Beams of light were cut into the air as crescent blades of dark violet energy came flying at the masked heroes.

Amp dashed out of the area, while Ranger air jumped backwards to avoid the attack. All eight of the crescents struck the pavement and cut huge five-foot grooves into it. The Fallen dug its nails into the side of a building as it descended, slowing it down for a moment before coming down on their position yet again. Amp immediately engaged and began trading blows with the monster. She threw a roundhouse kick with her right leg to its side, but the monster caught her leg. Amp used the monster as leverage to hoist herself up quickly and strike it in the face with her left leg, forcing him to let her. The Fallen didn’t waist a second as it punt kicked Amp in the stomach just before she landed, sending the hero smashing back first into a Newtopian car.

“ANNE!” Ranger turned to the Fallen, her visor glowed briefly as if showing her anger towards the monster. “I wanted to have a conversation, but I guess that’s off the table!”

Ranger opened fire again, blasting the monster at its kneecaps, shoulders, and neck, trying to hit points on its body to keep it from attacking. While all of Ranger’s attacks were hitting the mark, it didn’t seem to slow down the Fallen at all is it charged towards her. Ranger jumped and scaled the side of the building as she continued firing at the monster. But just like earlier, it wouldn’t stop, it just chased after. The Fallen dug its claws into the mortar and launched itself towards Ranger, once in range, the Fallen performed a spinning kick that caught Ranger in her left side and smashed her against the wall.

The impact made Ranger grunt and drop the Squall Sniper. Ranger reached for the left hip device to change, but the Fallen stopped her by pinning her left arm to the wall with his right hand. The monster reached forth and grabbed Ranger by the throat with his left and quickly began squeezing down. Ranger began to panic as she felt her airway constricting, causing her to flail about. At the same time, the Fallen began pulling at her left arm, with the sole intention of ripping it out of its socket. Ranger tried to scream when felt the pain radiating in her arm, but thanks to the Fallen choking her, she was unable to do so.

“The Prophecy…will be…undone.”

“GET AWAY FROM HER!!!”

Amp ran alongside the building that Ranger and the Fallen were on, and once in range, she delivered a flying kick to its face, forcing it off Ranger. Both Amp and the Fallen hit the ground, but Amp recovered faster and lunged at the monster again, the two rolled around on the ground for a moment before Amp ended up on top of it, as she straddled its torso, she began wailing on its face with rapid fire punches.

“DON’T YOU EVER!” Amp smashed her fist hard into its face. “EVER!” Another strike with the right. “TOUCH HER AGAIN!” Amp interlocked her hands and readied to bring them down in a joined hammer fist.

But just before she could follow through with the attack, the Fallen shot upwards and headbutted Amp. The blow was enough to disorient the hero, allowing the Fallen to throw her off. It then grabbed her by the leg and slammed her into the side of another building, but then tore her off and slammed her into car. On the third move it raised her up to throw her to the ground, but just as Amp was about to make contact the monster stopped moving and let her go. As Amp fell, the shadows beneath her suddenly extended upwards and caught her before she could hit the ground. They gently brought her to a seated position on the sidewalk before becoming a pool of darkness.

From that darkness, Amp watched as Ranger emerged from it, but now she had changed her form again. Her right arm had been completely changed into dark matter energy, her hood and cape also transformed into the same type of energy.

“Marcy…?”

“Sorry, it took me a second to recover from that. And don’t be scared, this is my Shadow Form.” Ranger raised her left arm and added, “And this is Nightshade. I just used it to create some shadow daggers to pin this monster’s shadow to the ground. See?”

Amp looked towards the monster again, this time looking at the ground. That’s when she saw three long dark matter construct daggers sticking out of the ground, having impaled the area where the Fallen’s shadow was cast.

“Thank frog for streetlamps or this wouldn’t be possible. Now, let’s finish –!” No sooner had Ranger said that did the streetlamp begin to flicker. A couple of seconds later, the lamp went out and the Fallen’s shadow melded into the rest of the shadows. “Oh, come on!”

Now freed, the Fallen launched its crescent energy waves at wind Rider. Ranger raised her cape like a matador, and the moment she did, the energy crescents disappeared into it. The Fallen seemed confused by this.

“Don’t worry, they’re coming back…” Ranger looked at a particularly large collection of Shadows in the alleyway just to the left of the Fallen. “NOW!”

The crescents appeared out of nowhere, and each one struck the Fallen again and again, with the last one sending him crashing into several cars.

Amp stood up and marveled at her friend’s technique. “Marbles, this form of yours is broken!”

“Kind of and not really, I’m limited to shadows, so it’s usefulness is diminished during the day. Nighttime is the only time when I can really use it to its full potential. That being said, this thing is relentless, no matter how hard we hit it, it just keeps getting back up,” Ranger observed.

“Let’s do our Rider Kicks at the same time, that might work.”

“And if it tanks that? We’d have wasted energy, we need to find a way to attack it from the inside, something with this strong a body has to be vulnerable on the inside.”

An idea struck Amp as she quickly pressed on her left hip device. Amp’s armor changed color from blue to pink, bringing her into Poison Form. “I have just the thing; I just need to get one clear shot at that thing!” 

Ranger smiled from behind her helm and said, “Leave it to me!”

The dark matter cloak of Ranger expanded and wrapped both herself and Amp inside of it before they dived straight into the shadows beneath them. The Fallen tore itself out the pile of vehicles, sending more crescent waves out that made them explode, creating fires all around it, which also so happened to generate more shadows. Suddenly, the monster was bombarded with air bolts from every direction. The Fallen looked to see where the blasts were coming from but could not see any sign of Amp or Ranger.

A series of wind bolts came from one direction, catching the monster’s attention as it loosed one energy claw blast after the other at that spot. However, as it did that, the Fallen didn’t notice as Amp jumped straight out of the Fallen’s own shadow. Her head crest was already fanned out, the blue lines on her armor glowing brightly as the tips of her index and middle fingers on both hands glowed. The Fallen finally sensed her presence, but it was too late to do anything as Amp rapidly thrust her fingers and struck any spot on the monster’s chest and arms that she could. Pinpoints of pink energy blasted through the other side with each impact.

Glowing pink lines of energy began to course throughout the Fallen’s body as it began to seize up, the poison starting its work. Amp spun around and came at the Fallen with one last attack, a palm heel strike to the center of its chest, causing a blast of pink plasma energy to erupt from behind it. Amp took a step back as the Fallen stumbled about, its dark halo appeared over its head, and not long after, its entire body exploded, strongly enough to push the flames away and nearly knock Amp onto her rear.

Ranger confirmed the Fallen’s destruction and quickly shifted into Artificer Form, using Rewrite to access the water pipes and hose down the flames before they could spread. Amp hunched over and panted from exhaustion, she then looked up at Ranger and gave her friend a thumbs up, with Ranger returning the gesture.

After cleaning up the damage, and debriefing the Newtopian Knight Guard on the incident, Anne and Marcy returned to the restaurant, which was closed, understandably. However, the waitress from earlier came by and gave them both bags that were filled with their orders.

“Oh, thank you, you didn’t have to. I was joking about the to go thing,” said Anne.

“Please, don’t worry about it. You two just saved us from another one of those monsters! I didn’t know we had another hero in Newtopia, it’s really exciting to see the great Marcy Wu fighting alongside such a trusted partner!” she gushed.

Marcy blushed as she rubbed the back of her head. “Yeah, I do trust Anne. With my life, actually.”

Anne felt like she was going to tear up from hearing that.

“Well, we better get to eating this before it gets cold,” said Marcy.

“Yeah, but I don’t want to eat it in the room…Oh, I know where we can eat it, if you don’t mind a little change of venue.”

“Lead the way Anna-Banana.”

The two girls got back on Machine Zefyr, Anne directed Marcy to a location where Bessie and the fwagon were parked and had her land next to them. Anne dismounted first and greeted the giant snail, Bessie purred contently as she nuzzled Anne.

“Aw, she’s so cute!” Marcy exclaimed.

“Heh-heh, Marcy meet Bessie, the fastest snail around,” said Anne.

Marcy walked up to the large snail and extended her hand forward. Bessie sniffed Marcy’s hand, and in the next moment she too was purring contently as she nuzzled into her hand.

“C’mon, we’ll eat in the fwagon.” Anne opened the door and let Marcy in.

The two girls sat at the table and broke out their foods, after that battle they eagerly dug into their food with great hunger. Scarfing down almost every last morsel, it took a couple of minutes before Anne and Marcy finished their food and enjoyed the content feeling of fullness in their bullies.

“Man, two Fallen attacks in one day. And what was with that last one? It was way tougher than the ones I’ve fought, what about you?” Anne asked.

“Same here, none of the ones I’ve faced over these months don’t come close to that one. But we managed to pull off a win. I’m just glad you were here to help me, I don’t think I could’ve beaten that thing alone,” said Marcy.

Anne smiled at her friend. “Nah, I’m sure you would’ve. You’re like Batman, give you enough time and you’ll think of a way to outsmart ‘em. If anything, I’d be the one in trouble.” Anne looked through the small window near the table, a little moonlight poured through it, giving the room a calming atmosphere. “Marcy, do you think you could…teach me?”

Marcy turned her head and asked, “What do you mean?”

Anne sighed and said, “Up until now, I’ve just been letting my powers do everything for me. It’s only been recently that I’ve gotten control of them, but I don’t know the first thing about them. I’m afraid if I don’t truly get a handle on these powers, I might end up hurting the Plantars, or innocent people.”

Marcy looked upon her friend with sympathy. “You’re not the kind of person to let that happen. Other than Sasha, you’re one of the strongest people I know, even if you don’t see it, I do. And if you’re really worried about losing control, then I’ll be there to help you. I’ll teach you what I know about my powers, and we’ll see how well my lessons translate to yours,” said Marcy.

“No, forget it, you’re already doing a lot by helping the king find out information about the music box, I don’t want to add to your workload.”

Marcy shook her head and smiled. “Nope, we’re doin’ this. We’ll set up a date for us to train so I can secure a spot for us that’ll keep collateral damage to a minimum. Somewhere outside the city should be fine, there’s some land to the south of here that has rocky terrain that would be perfect for us.”

Anne’s smile returned as she shook her head. The Thai girl reached forward and wrapped her right hand around Marcy’s left. “Sometimes, I don’t think I deserve you as a friend.”

“I don’t think so,” Marcy replied as she tightened her grip, not enough to hurt, but just enough to reassure Anne. “If anything, I think it’s the opposite. As far as I’m concerned, I want us to stay together for as long as we can. Whether or not the king and I find out any information, I want it to stay that way. Do you feel the same?”

“Of course, I do, you’re important to me Mar-Mar. And even though Sash and are a little on the outs, I still want us all to stay together. Whether or not you do find some magic portal that’ll take us back,” said Anne.

It was now or never; the mood was perfect. “Anne, there’s something I–”

“Oh shoot, I almost forgot!” Anne exclaimed.

“What?”

“Wait, a second, I wanted to show you this thing I found!”

Anne released Marcy’s hand, much to her displeasure, and began rooting through some of the items in the fwagon. A few seconds later, Anne managed to find the briefcase that the Curator had given her. Marcy looked upon the strange briefcase, her intrigue winning over the slight disappointment about not being able to confess to her crush.

“What is that?” Marcy asked.

“Okay, so, while we were travelling, we stopped in this town and visited this wax museum. Only the wax monsters that were in it weren’t just made of wax, they were real. Like, he encased the monsters in wax and were still alive underneath. He tried to turn me into one too.”

“WHAT?!” Marcy exclaimed in a panic. “You were almost trapped in wax?!”

“And he kind of drugged me so it made it hard for me to use my powers at all.”

“AND HE DRUGGED YOU!” A green glow appeared in her eyes. “Who is he?! I’ll take the Knight Guard and we’ll arrest this sick–!”

“Whoa, whoa, hey, Mar-Mar, it’s okay, I think I put the fear of God into him when I managed to tap into my powers, I don’t think he’ll be doing that again,” Anne assured.

Marcy’s eyes returned to normal. She didn’t like the idea that someone who drugged and almost trapped her friend alive in wax was still roaming about free as a bird. Mental Note: Track down the madman trapping people in wax.

“Anyway, I found something else while I was there. Two somethings. The first was this Skip Man.” Anne took out the old disc music player and showed it Marcy.

Marcy’s eyes widened with intellectual curiosity, she had never seen a piece of Earth based technology here in Amphibia, even in a place like Newtopia. “I…where did the guy you got this off of get it?!”

“He said he got it here in Newtopia,” said Anne.

Marcy had spent months here, but she never saw or heard of anyone finding something like this Skip Man. Perhaps there were other Earth based technologies in Newtopia, and she wasn’t looking hard enough? It was possible, she was a busy girl. What with the renovations to the city, her Kamen Rider duties, and her duties as a Ranger in the Knight Guard, some things were bound slip by her.

“And then there’s this. The Curator said he, ugh, stole it off some guy in Newtopia. But get this, he said it was something that could take you to other worlds,” said Anne.

“You don’t think…?”

Anne turned the briefcase around so that the crystal eye was facing towards her. Without thinking she moved her hand over the crystal eye and said, “I don’t know. But can we afford to overlook anything? I know it’s a briefcase, but you and I have Rider powers, and we’re in a land full of walking, talking frogs, newts, and toads.”

Marcy had to admit, Anne had a point. “Okay, I’ll take it back to the castle and run some tests on it.”

“Cool.” Anne handed the briefcase to Marcy, but her right hand was still on the crystal. “Uh…”

Marcy pulled, but Anne’s hand was still on it. “Um, Anne, do ya wanna let it go?”

“I…I can’t! I think my hand’s stuck!”

Marcy tried pulling harder, while Anne pulled the other way. But for some reason, no matter how hard they pulled, Anne’s hand remained adhered to the crystal eye.

“Okay, okay, we don’t need to panic, just yet.” Marcy assured. “I’m sure there’s a perfectly logical reason why your hand is somehow glued to that crystal.”

Suddenly, Anne’s eyes glowed blue again. Her right hand lit up with the Power of Calamity, and that same energy funneled its way into the crystal eye of the briefcase. The black slit at the center widened as a blue slit pupil appeared at its center. The energy continued to funnel into it, and after a minute, the briefcase finally released itself from Anne’s hand. It hit the floor, but the moment it did, the briefcase began to unfold, becoming a door. That same door opened and revealed a glowing white light.

“What the…” Anne gasped.

But before they could understand what was happening, a large shadow bolted through the portal and smashed its way through the front door of the fwagon, taking the wall with it and exposing the inside.

“What the heck?!”

Anne saw a flash go off behind her and turned to see what it was, only to get run into. She tumbled about and fell outside of the fwagon, and a second later she felt someone, or something fall on top of her as well.

“¡¿A qué le pegué (Ow, what did I hit)?!”

Anne opened her eyes and gasped. On top of her was a girl, not a newt or frog, but another human girl. She had dark brown hair, tanned skin, with amber colored eyes. She wore a purple and white hoodie, black leggings, and a pair of shorts. Both Anne and this new girl stared into each other’s eyes, as it seemed she too was just as surprised as she was.

“You’re…You’re human,” said Anne.

“You’re….You’re a human, too,” said the mysterious girl.

“Who are you?” Anne asked.

“Luz…I-I’m Luz Noceda.”